Amarok 2.1 Test Phase Begins

By their own accord, the Amarok music player people are working on the "coolness factor" for Amarok 2.1 and hope to make a good first impression with their Beta 1.

Strongly recommended for testing, feedback required.

Amarok developers had focused in version 2.0.2 mainly on fixing bugs. With Amarok 2.1, code-named Nuliajuk, they'd like to show what else they have up their sleeve. The free audio player now provides, among other things, a user-configurable playlist with drag-and-drop editor, along with playlists from outside sources such as directly attached multimedia devices.

Also new to Amarok 2.1 are bookmarking specific track positions and other features that more easily manage music content. Upload time for large playlists should be faster with the progress bar showing a nice visual indicator. Apple devotees can show and save their favorite iPod collection cover art, or can disable previewing it if desired.

The beta announcement characterizes the stability of Amarok 2.1 up to now as "quite good," so encourages download and to "cuddle this beta a little." Developers are thankful for previous testing and feedback and published their "mile-long" list of enhancements on their project page, which also includes the link to the download page.